tarwheel 

I don't even try to track commuting costs because it gets too complicated. First, I never buy complete bikes. I buy frames and then have them built up with parts I've collected and/or swap parts from other bikes. Eg, I got a new Salsa Casseroll last spring and only paid $500 for the frame, fork and rack. I had the bike built with parts taken from another bike with a few new parts (eg, headset, stem, etc.) that I got from the bikeshop. My out-of-pocket cost was about $800, not including parts I already had, but the bike is probably worth $2,000 in replacement value.

I've put 3,500 miles on the Casseroll since I bought it. So is the cost per mile 14 cents ($500/3500), 23 cents ($800/3500) or 57 cents ($2000/3500)? Further complicating matters, I recently had to replace the rear tire, which I already had on hand from a previous bike but originally bought for about $25. I replaced the crankset just for the heck of it, and got a new wheelset for my birthday.

To simplify matters, I figure that I'm saving about 50 cents/mile by commuting because that is the approximate federal mileage reimbursement rate, which takes into account gas and maintenance costs of driving a car. By that formula, commuting saved me about $2,150 last year and I probably spent that much on bike stuff.

CommuteCommando

'03 Pontiac Vibe. Paid off for about $16k in '06 including interest. ~4k lifetime maintenance over 180k mi.

Now here is the good part.

Daily commute-65 miles each way, of which the first 6 are driven to a commuter rail station (ridden when the weather gets warmer), the last five are ridden. Monthly rail pass equates to $13 round trip per day (currently less than the cost of gasoline alone) ~ $800 (including accessories and maintenance) 2008 Trek 7.2 FX, ~3000 mi so far.

I will not bother you with the math, but trust me, it's worth it.

Altair 4

Just to put some of these numbers in perspective:

I have an '03 VW Passat wagon, bought new, that is now approaching 100,000 miles. Taking into account maintenance and gasoline (not purchase price or depreciation), the per mile cost is approaching $0.23. It's a high maintenance car - turbo engine eats premium fuel and requires synthetic oil. I'd compare it to my bike, but it's too new with too few miles on it to be meaningful at this point.

jeffpoulin

One thing I haven't seen mentioned is how N+1 factors into this. I have 1 car but 5 bikes (working on a 6th ). If I add up ALL my bike-related purchases and divide by the total miles ridden, it would probably not be cheaper than my car. Cycling sure is a lot more fun than driving, though, and in the end, that's what's really important to me. Besides, bikes are cheap compared to, say, boats, or classic cars. Heck, even golf or skiing are probably more expensive on an hourly basis.

Seattle Forrest

That bike was born in the same year I was.

Andy_K 

I didn't even intend to compare cars to bikes, just commuter bikes to other bikes, but even with that massive mileage total (which you must admit makes your car an outlier for a single owner) you're barely under 9 cents a mile without considering maintenance and fuel costs. Interesting. My '03 Hyundai Elantra is at about 37 cents a mile (but still under warranty).

Andy_K 

You might be surprised. Even if I count the cost of component upgrades and disregard the value of take-off parts sitting on my shelf, the bikes I have at various times used for commuting come in under 20 cents a mile which puts them well below the 37 cents per mile for my Elantra and on par with the 20 cents per mile of my wife's Odyssey (without even counting interest payments in those costs, to say nothing of insurance and maintenance). If I throw in the two offroad-only bikes and the one that hasn't made it to the road yet, my bike cost per mile goes up to 40 cents.

I also think that for a lot of people cars follow an N+1-1 formula that dwarfs the N+1 cost of bikes. Google tells me that the average American keeps a car less than 5 years.

Artkansas 

Till they need maintenance.

One of my favorite bikes was a freebie, but in the past 7 years I've probably put close to $500 into it, including about $100 to streetify it and $300 overhaul a couple of years back. But it's worth it.

wphamilton

It may be inevitable that we keep spending on new bikes, upgrades and equipment as you said. Although I have resisted mightily, even I "splurged" on new Sora brakes as opposed to what I randomly had in my closet, when building the bike I didn't technically need for commuting. There is a relentless pull towards that slippery slope.

But, this being "commuting", it isn't strictly necessary. Just to balance this out, I'll say that the cost of bicycle commuting can approach a negligible amount, if you don't care about the bike or the ride and your only objective is travelling to work and back. Up until 2012 I think my total cost per mile was around two cents. Not that I'm recommending that, but just to put it into perspective.

kjmillig

Where do live that you can get insurance for $300 a year?!
I've lived most of my life in the Houston area and the cheapest minimum coverage insurance I could find on an 8 year old Mercury Villager with a clean driving record was $180 a month!

Kind of Blued

Calculating petrol costs and ignoring food costs seems silly to me, unless everybody here gets their food for free.

Commuting to work almost doubles my daily calorie expenditure, and 300,000 calories worth of food/year definitely costs me time and a lot of money.

I don't commute to save money in the first place, but for those that do, it seems ignorant to ignore YOUR fuel consumption.

SlimRider

Interesting point here....

Upon my initial return to cycling and commuting in particular, my grocery bill shot straight up through the roof!

Spld cyclist

The $3 loaf of whole wheat bread on my counter contains 1,710 calories, or 570 calories per dollar. At that price, it would cost $526 per year to fuel your cycling, or about $10 per week. That's about the same as 2 - 3 gallons of gas. I'm not sure how many miles per year you bike to burn 300,000 calories, but I'll bet it's pretty high.

Not that anyone powers their cycling on wheat bread alone, but at least with food we get to choose how many dollars per calorie we wish to spend. There are both cheaper and more expensive ways to do it than my example.

Edit: Playing around with calorie calculators, my 50 miles commuting per week would cost me around $3. YMMV!

wphamilton

That's about how I think about it too, although I think that's a little high even. The last time I looked at it, it took about an egg and toast to fuel my commute, and I realized I'd probably eat that or worse (more expensive, more junk) if I didn't exercise. So it's merely logical - not ignorant - to simply ignore that cost.

CommuteCommando

I guess the point is that by commuting by bike, I am delaying the time I will have to replace the ol' Vibe, and have to start making car payments again. It is not so simple as miles ridden on a bike / cost of bike.

jeffpoulin

Okay, but commuting can add years to your life, and just think about how much THAT costs!

Spld cyclist

This is where most of my bike commuting savings come from. My wife and I have usually had two cars, but my not needing a car for work means that we are comfortable with one "nice" car and one "junky" car. Putting low mileage on means the junky car would go forever, if not for rust. Our current older car is a '98 and I would like to get a couple more years out of it before it goes to that big parking lot in the sky. The newer one is paid off right now, so car-related costs other than insurance are fairly low.

Buddha4

Not only do you have to figure maintenance but figure initial costs of gear needed for a comfortable commute. It took a lot of miles for my heated motorcycle gear to offset the cost of driving my truck in. Sometimes the "cost" has other factors I commute to work on Sundays when I can actually enjoy the ride in and back and there is less traffic on the road.

FanaticMN

I got some data on "other gear needed for a comfortable commute."

I started commuting last may after a few decade layoff.

My bike (a Trek Allant, stock fenders and rack) was $570 new. (I buy into the philosophy of buying something cheap and using it to learn).

Initial bike gear (pannier, mirror, bottle, lock, spare tube, seat bag, power grips, etc) was an additional $135.

Summer commuting clothing (helmet, shorts, jerseys, decent rain gear head to toe, etc) was $478.

Winter bike gear (dynamo hub, new wheel, dynamo lights, flashers, studded tires...) was $672.

Winter commuting clothing (2-3 layers including smart wool, headwinds jacket and pants, boots, gloves, balaclava, etc) was $970(!).

Figure less than $100 for maintenance to date (chain, cassette, brake pads); I had most of the tools.

So, yeah, a "new kid" in a cold climate intent on commuting every day and wanting decent quality gear could easily spend $3000 in start up costs.

I've ridden 2750 miles in 10 months. I figure that, using IRS reimbursement rate per mile as the yardstick, all of this stuff will be paid off in less than two years or so.

There are lots of intangibles that make this more of a thought exercise than an analysis. What's losing 20 pounds, and getting back in shape, worth?

Sixty Fiver

It really depends on how much you ride and when I was commuting 10,000 km a year on bikes that I might have put $400.00 into that were and continue to be ultra reliable my cost per km was very low.

A man has to eat and although you do eat more when you are more physically active you also benefit from improved mental and physical health... and a healthy diet does not have to cost a fortune.

When I was riding 10 k a year I was also spending 8-10 hours a day wrestling with steel and had to eat 4000 calories a day just to maintain weight and by upping that to nearly 5000 calories was able to gain some needed mass.

tcmers

I know this was meant as a somewhat joking comment, but any real analysys has to take this into account, along with the opposite.

A daily drive to work, stop at the local donut or fast food joint, and similar lunches can add huge costs to your medical care over the course of a lifetime. I'll take my chances eating right, riding more and living longer!

202MphHayabusa

So lets see. my Bianchi Project cross USA cost me about $1800
I stopped counting at 75,000 miles on this bike...that works out to .024 a mile
not counting tires chains tubes, tubulars, ect....

If I did the math on my Merlin extralight that cost me about $6k back in the late 90's the number would not be good at all, as I have only ridden it about 20,000 total
ouch 30 cents a miles wow

Robert C

The only one that I can even approach that first number with was my Schwinn Le-Tour, purchased in the 80's. I still have it even though a roomate ripped the derailleur hanger off it. Some day I plan to put an IGH on it.

That embodies the reason that my commuting bicycle costs are high. I am constantly tinkering. It is an addiction only slightly less expensive; but significantly more socially acceptable, than drugs.

If I am not tinkering I am trying a new bicycle. Even here in China I am constantly resisting the urge to purchase another new bike even though I know I will have to walk away from it in a year. The only one I will return to the states with is my folder. The worst part is that I can rationalize reasons that I need another bike.

Your Merlin better reflects my bike purchases and economy. The trouble is that a new bike is cheap enough to make without really taking a big financial hit; but, expensive enough that it just wipes out any cost/mile justifications.

Andy_K 

No, Jeff is right. Aside from the years of extra food and shelter expenses, the things that kill you when you're 90-100 involve much more medical expense than the things that kill you when you're 50-60.

ItsJustMe

My bike is a Giant Cypress. $300 new, $200 in new wheels over the years, $50 for a new crank once, $400 in other stuff (brake pads, chains, rack, lights, etc) so figure $1000. I have 28,000 miles on it so far. so 3.5c per mile and dropping.

These days I spend next to nothing on it. A new set of tires about once every 2 years (7000 to 10000 miles), a new chain every couple of years, a new set of brake pads every couple of years. So say about $50/year maintenance, about 3800 miles a year so I'm asymptotically approaching 1.3 cents per mile.